The Old Reading Room, Lesbury, Northumberland

£395,000 SOLD

The Old Reading Room is a 1959 sq ft three bedroom quintessential romantic country cottage seeped in history and tucked away in this tranquil coastal village. Much care was taken to preserve the soul of this characterful home by the current owners, creating a lovely balance of original features and contemporary accents. Pretty beams, sash style windows, an AGA in the kitchen and a cottage style garden with bats at dusk and barn owls at night are just a few features of this home's palpable sense of history and atmosphere. We welcome you to fall in love with this special home as much as we have. The Old Reading Room is a sanctuary of intrigue and history that combines all the features of a period property and comforts of a modern home. The location and lifestyle both add to the appeal of this striking and handsome abode.

The Old Reading Room is a characterful, elegant 1959 sq ft three bedroom family home tucked away in this desirable, pretty coastal village. The current owners have imaginatively and tastefully renovated this special property. In our opinion, this home ticks all of the boutique property boxes. A balanced blend of character and contemporary accents offer comfortable and spacious living. A great deal of improvements have been made, including a new roof. The former LPG gas supply was replaced in 2012 by mains gas with the added benefit of the AGA also connected to the mains gas supply. A new Worcester Bosch condensing combination boiler was also installed.

The history of The Old Reading Room was made available by the previous owners by way of a published book that is still on sale at the local village post office. For lovers of history and curiosity, we have a copy of the book to peruse, pop in and see us for a coffee and a reminisce of times past at The Old Reading Room, we can’t promise you won’t be tempted into an unexpected move though!

The renovation works were carried out by the current owners over the past few years. The property previously had a utility room, a kitchen and a pantry, looking at the old plans from the previous owners’ own historical findings, the current owners could see that this was originally one room, they retained the pantry and merged the utility and former kitchen into one large room, they designed the kitchen themselves and commissioned the fitting to local kitchen makers. At the time of the re-fit, the kitchen was also rewired and fuse box upgraded into two modern fuse boxes along with new sockets to the entire kitchen.

In 2014 the current owners removed an ageing electric bar fire from the reception room and retained it’s marble and wooden surround for decorative fitting purposes elsewhere, a beautiful stone fire surround and hearth was fitted complete with wood burning stove.

In 2015 to the first floor on the west wing, the former shower room, two bedrooms and store cupboard were merged to create a master bedroom suite, again, referring to the old plans the current owners could see that this had also originally been one room with the likelihood of another original fireplace, given the second chimney pot. They had all of the internal walls removed and re-designed the layout to open up the room into a spacious dual aspect master bedroom, this work indeed exposed the original stone fireplace. The former shower room was re-shaped into a large personal bathroom for the master bedroom.

What’s inside The Old Reading Room?

Please refer to the floor plan provided for the layout and individual room sizes.

From the front path leading up to the front elevation, access is via a double glazed hexagonal sun room to the main front door.

Sun Room:

A hexagonal shaped, south facing double glazed sunroom provides a lovely spot to sit and enjoy the long hours of sunshine that can be enjoyed from early morning until late at night.

Front door to main accommodation:

Hallway:

A nice sized hallway that provides access to the principal living accommodation on the ground floor, with the reception room to the left and the kitchen/diner to the right. There is a lovely wide central staircase with timber handrails leading up to the first floor accommodation.

Reception Room:

A beautiful and impressively spacious 24.6 ft reception room with an attractive stone fire surround and hearth complete with wood burning stove, period plate shelving around all the walls currently used as storage for books. This is a delightful room and the hub of the home, perfect for gathering family and friends or simply relaxing in your own personal sanctuary. Two double glazed sash style windows to the front and side elevation, two gas CH radiators.

Door to rear lobby:

From the reception room you have access to the rear lobby area which makes for a perfect boot room to brush off the sand after a long stroll on the nearby beach. There are floor to ceiling storage cupboards to one wall, CH radiator and a window to the rear of the property.

WC/Cloakroom:

From the rear lobby, there is access to this handy ground floor cloakroom consisting of a two piece suite. Frosted window to the side of the property and CH radiator.

Coming back through the reception room through the hallway leads to:

Kitchen/Diner:

An individually designed bespoke statement country kitchen custom made by local kitchen maker Ray McCall with cream coloured wall and base units, solid timber hard counter tops in African walnut, there is also a stunning kitchen island with inset sink unit and mixer mono tap, and under-counter dishwasher, the counter top is solid granite in emerald pearl creating an opulent atmosphere to this lovely room. A white coloured AGA connected to the mains gas is ideal for those who enjoy cooking, or for pets that like to curl up at the end of a country wander. There is also a separate large Smeg range style 6 burner gas range cooker too, perfect for large dinner parties and baking days, and an integrated white Butler sink to get all those baking dishes washed up. There’s also an American style fridge/freezer that fits in nicely in a separate co-ordinating housing. This room is spacious and well planned and is large enough to fit a dining table and chairs for eight. A separate walk in pantry provides additional storage. Original stripped timber floor boards. Double glazed door leading out to the rear of the property with a full length window next to it which floods the room with natural light along with the double glazed sash style window to the front elevation that looks out to the front garden.

Central staircase from Hallway to first floor:

A fabulous wide central staircase with polished timber handrails lead to first floor landing with two skylights providing oodles of natural light and the exposed beams accentuate the historic nature of this gorgeous home. Fitted carpet, CH radiator.

To the west wing:

Master Bedroom with en-suite:

A stunningly spacious dual aspect master bedroom suite with painted timber floor boards and original stone fireplace, two double glazed sash style windows as well as a sky light provide plenty of sunlight. Pretty beams to the ceiling that make this beautiful bedroom exude character and charm. CH radiator. Drift off to sleep at night with the sound of the barn owl hooting and wake up to the sound of bees buzzing about and the birds singing their morning song. This is truly a bedroom to enjoy and relax in.

En-Suite shower room:

A contemporary en-suite bathroom with white gold mirror composite quartz tiled flooring, fully tiled walls in ebony coloured wave style, giving a real sense of luxuriousness. This is an incredibly spacious and light bathroom with two skylights that allow the sunlight to come flooding in. Three-piece suite comprising a pedestal hand wash basin with designer with waterfall tap. Over basin heated mirror with LED lighting and shaving power point. WC and a walk in shower wet room with mains fed shower, back pressure jets, handheld shower and waterfall shower head above. Chrome ladder style radiator. There is a storage cupboard perfect for all of your towels. The exposed beams continue to add a wonderful extra feature to the bathroom.

From the first floor landing to the east wing:

Bedroom 3:

As with the other bedrooms, this again is a very light and airy double bedroom to the front elevation currently used as a study with the original beams. There is a double glazed sash window that looks out to the garden and a skylight too which provides copious amounts of sunlight. There is also a generous storage cupboard as well as inset shelving, perfect for all of your books. Fitted carpet and CH radiator.

Bedroom 2:

A charming and spacious double bedroom to the front elevation, benefitting from a large double glazed sash style window, making it very light, and takes in the views overlooking the pretty gardens. This bedroom has exposed beams creating a lovely country cottage feel. Fitted carpet and CH radiator.

Family Bathroom:

A pleasant and welcoming family bathroom with a four piece suite consisting of a WC, hand wash basin with vanity unit below, a bath with shower mixer tap, bidet and a towel radiator. There is a storage cupboard for you towels and bathroom accessories. There is a very pretty arched window to the rear which adds character to this bathroom. Vinyl flooring and a CH radiator.

What’s outside The Old Reading Room?

From the front gate, a long path meanders to the front of the property, to the side elevation there is a gorgeous south facing cottage style garden, enjoying the sun from early morning until late evening. The hexagonal shaped double glazed sun room is a the perfect spot to relax and fling open the windows and doors and enjoy the garden from this spot too. There’s plenty of mature shrubs, flowers and plants and a beautiful Norway spruce planted by the former owners in the 80’s. This makes a perfect real Christmas tree every year to light up the garden. Also in the garden is a mature quince bush that bears fruit every year. At dusk bats are regular visitors and barn owls are also frequently seen as well as hedgehogs which use the path as a thoroughfare to the neighbour that feeds them.

To the side of the property there is a shared access driveway that leads to the detached stone built garage, there is private parking and visitor’s parking. There are log stores running along the side of the garage. At the rear the property is a shared driveway with gravel over original cobbles and an outside gravelled area belonging to the property, providing access to the rear door into the Kitchen/Diner.

What Propology love about The Old Reading Room and the village of Lesbury:

We adore this romantic historical cottage. The Old Reading Roomis an exceptionally well presented, personal and romantic home set within this lovely, tranquil village. We love the time-worn beauty of the cottage’s thick stone walls, slate roof and period details. A perfect balance of original features and contemporary accents. Fantastically located to explore the Northumberland Coast. This home has been thoughtfully restored and maintained by the current owners to a very high specification. History informs us that The Old Reading Room stood on the site of farm buildings of the former Lesbury Townhead Farm and became The Reading Room soon after 1883, established in a grain store to which access was available for horses and carts via a passageway which existed between the store and the adjacent blacksmith’s shop. The Old Reading Room provides light, airy and extremely welcoming accommodation set across two floors, with a number of traditional features balancing out a clean and modern feel, including traditional sandstone walls, a log burning stove with a stone fire surround and pretty ceiling beams. Externally the property has access to a peaceful, country cottage garden. The Old Reading Room is situated in the heart of Lesbury, an archetypal Northumbrian village with an acclaimed country pub, The Coach Inn, only a stroll away, this charming pub is adorned by floral displays, with a cart spilling a cascade of blooms, tubs, hanging baskets and wicker umbrellas over picnic benches, creating a welcoming country vibe. There’s a lovely 20 minute walk alongside the Aln River to the beach at Alnmouth. The Old Reading Room is a stunning English Country Cottage located in a quaint desirable village close to one of the most beautiful and iconic coastlines in the country.

Lesbury is a pretty quaint village located in an area of outstanding natural beauty, with incredible beaches, historic castles, great walks and breathtaking scenery. The local beach is located in nearby Alnmouth, with its long golden sands stretching out for miles from both sides of the River Aln’s estuary. It is a picture postcard village with access to good facilities. As if there wasn’t enough history within the house and village, within a ten mile radius of the property there are three castles, Alnwick, Dunstanburgh and Warkworth.
The historical market town of Alnwick is within easy reach, 4 miles away. The mainline East Coast train station is within walking distance, making commutes to Newcastle, Edinburgh, York and London all doable.